Government to launch search for ‘mothers missing millions’ on state pensions – Steve Webb, LCP

In its annual report last year, DWP reported that an error had been found in the National Insurance records of some people – mostly mothers - who should have had NI credits for time at home bringing up children. At that stage, DWP said that they were unable to estimate the scale of the problem, though subsequent DWP ‘fraud and error’ statistics implied that underpayments relating to NI errors of this sort could amount to around £100m per year. An update on the figures is expected to be included in the DWP’s imminent 2023 annual report.

However, today, the Government has announced that in Autumn 2023, it will begin a large-scale write-out to parents – mostly women – who may be affected. The people in scope will mainly be women in their 60s and 70s who made a claim for Child Benefit before May 2000. If they made a claim without putting a National Insurance number on their claim, it is possible that their credits may not have been transferred to their NI account from the Child Benefit computer. These credits were previously known as ‘Home Responsibilities Protection’ or HRP.

HMRC say that they will be writing to people who have no HRP on their record and who have gaps in their NI record between 1978 (when HRP was created) and 2010 (when HRP turned into NI credits). Where errors are found, NI records will be corrected, and DWP will then recalculate state pensions and pay arrears where appropriate.

LCP has previously campaigned to raise awareness of this issue and launched its own ‘mothers missing millions’ campaign and website to help people work out if they might be affected.

Commenting, LCP partner Steve Webb said: “It is good news that the Government is finally taking action to deal with yet more errors in people’s state pension records. Missing out on protection for time at home with children could make a huge difference to a mother’s pension entitlement, and lump sum payments of arrears could run into many thousands of pounds for those who are affected. I hope that this correction process will be completed as quickly as possible, as far too many people have been underpaid for far too long”.